Digimon Adventure 03: The Dark World
by MinionLassie
Summary: The Thirteen Gates sealed Daemon in the Dark World ruled by an Undersea Master who seeks his queen.The DigiDestined must keep the keys away from Daemon's servant while battling his army of X-Antibody Digimon.When darkness grasps two of their own the DigiDestined must do all they can to save their friends even if it means fighting them.The Darkness can't be allowed out of its world
1. The Journey Begins

**Hey readers of fanfiction I am trying something new and writing a story about the children of the original digidestined with my own little changes to how the epilogue went. So here's what stemmed this new desire to return to something from my childhood I found the entire first season on YouTube and watched some episodes. I hope you enjoy the chapter.**

**Nope I don't own digimon ):**

**Chapter One: The Journey Begins **

Tai Kamiya was leaning against the hood of his car waiting for his friends to show up. His gaze shifted from the night sky to an approaching set of headlights. He recognized the silver sedan as his sister's car. He heard the car door behind him open and close, together he and Sora went to go greet Kari and TK.

"TK, Kari it's been such a long time." Sora said as she hugged her sister-in-law.

"They were at the house last week for dinner." Tai said taking his turn in hugging his sister. He hugged his brother-in-law and asked, "Have you heard from Matt? He never called me back."

"He's going to be here tonight." TK answered.

Tai and Sora were happy to hear that Matt would be joining them. After his divorce Matt had taken his kids and moved away from Odaiba, he rarely showed up for group get-togethers claiming it was a long drive or that he was swamped at work. TK and Kari saw him and the kids regularly because they were family and were willing to make the trip to Matt's country home.

Yolei and Ken showed up next, the couple was arguing over the babysitting capabilities of their teenage neighbor. Ken seemed to have complete faith in the girl, having done a background check on her and her family, while Yolei was still unconvinced that the girl could handle her kids. Ken told the four of them that Yolei was suffering from separation anxiety. The lilac-haired woman smacked her husband's arm and then proceeded to show the other two women pictures of the newest addition to her family.

"Oh Yolei he's adorable." Kari gushed. "How are Yuki and Ryuu taking to being older siblings?"

"Oh they love it, though like their dad they seem to disappear when it's feeding and changing time." Yolei said glaring daggers at her husband. TK and Tai snickered while Ken held his hands up defensively afraid that his wife might smack him again.

Slowly the rest of the group showed up and talked about anything and everything except for the reason they were all gathered atop of a bridge in Highton View Terrace at night. Tai looked over at Izzy, who had suggested earlier that they start without Matt, and nodded at the redhead.

"Wait!" Kari yelled as Izzy opened his mouth to speak. The group turned to look at the brunette. She lifted her hand and pointed to the sleek black sedan that was pulling into the space in front of Yolei and Ken's minivan. "Matt's here."

The whole group stared at the blond-haired man with wide eyes; they were surprised that he had actually joined them. Scratching the back of his neck Matt said, "Sorry I'm late I couldn't find a babysitter and then I got lost on my way to my mom's place."

"Its okay." Tai said unable to imagine what it was like to be a single father raising two kids. "Just glad you could make it man."

"Now that we're all here Izzy can finally tell us why we're all here." Davis said getting everybody's attention back on track.

"The Digital World's in trouble. Someone is creating X-Antibody Digimon and using them to wreck havoc throughout the Digital World. There were only a handful of X-Antibody Digimon on Monday but as of now the number is well in the thousands." Izzy said showing them pictures of the digimon. "Gennai and Azulongmon have agreed that it is time to call on a new generation of DigiDestined to save the Digital World."

"Our kids." Tai said looking around at his hesitant looking group of friends. "It is their destiny and we'll help them in every way we can. We did it and I sincerely believe that they can do it too."

At everybody's nod Izzy said, "Bring the kids to the lab tomorrow and we'll get them ready for what's to come."

"Matt we're going to need you." Tai said just before everybody started toward their cars.

"Which is why I've moved back to Odaiba." Matt said.

Izzy looked at the two children standing quietly beside Matt, it had been eight years since he'd seen them. Kai reminded him of Matt, from her blond hair and blue eyes to her quiet and closed off persona. Raiden on the other hand looked like the mother he most likely didn't remember with brown hair and green eyes but like his sister was quiet and reserved.

"Akira should be around here somewhere." Izzy said gesturing to the lab. "You two can go look for her if you want."

"No its okay we'll stay here." Kai said quietly.

At the sound of crying the four of them turned toward the door. Yolei smiled at them before taking off in the direction of the bathroom to no doubt change the crying baby's diaper. Ken ushered his two older kids through the door apologizing to everyone in the room for their noisy entrance.

Tugging at her dad's shirt Kai asked, "That's Mr. Ichijouji right?"

"Yes that's Ken and his kids, Yuki and Ryuu." Matt answered. Kai nodded and committed their names and faces to memory.

"Where's Akira?" Yuki asked completely oblivious to the fact that there were two kids standing in front of her best friend's father.

"Somewhere around here." Izzy said.

"Yuki don't be rude, introduce yourself." Ken said looking at Matt and his kids apologetically.

"Huh?" Yuki said confusedly, then she noticed the three person family standing beside them. Scratching the back of her neck she said, "Sorry, I'm Yuki and this is my brother Ryuu."

"I'm Kai and this is Raiden." The blond-haired girl said.

"Why haven't we seen you two around before?" Yuki questioned.

"We don't live in Odaiba." Kai said.

"Yeah we do." Raiden said quietly. At the lilac-haired girl's arched eyebrows he decided to add, "We just moved."

The door slid open again and Mimi walked in with a stressed looking Joe. The twins followed their parents in and automatically struck up a conversation with Yuki and Ryuu. As if suddenly remembering their presence Yuki introduced Miku and Michi to Kai and Raiden. Yuki squealed when her other best friend Hana walked through the door with her dad. Cody covered his ears but it didn't block much of the high pitch screaming. Davis and his son DJ were the next to arrive promising everybody lunch after everything was said and done.

"I'll hold you to that Davis." Tai said as he, Sora, and their kids walked into the room. "Takumi and I are hungry."

"You two just ate." Sora said to her husband and son.

"They're always hungry mom." Emi said looking up at her older brother and father.

"You should have seen your father eat when we were kids." Kari said as she, TK, and their kids walked in completing their group of friends. "He ate until he was sick and then ate some more."

"Yeah when we weren't eating mom's food." Tai said defending himself.

"Alright now that we're all here we can begin." Izzy said leading the group over to a glass cabinet. Behind the glass on four different shelves lay thirteen newly designed digivices. Addressing the kids Izzy said, "These are yours, they allow you to open the gate to the Digital World and allow your digimon partner to digivolve."

"But we don't have digimon." DJ said.

"You haven't met them yet." Izzy said as he unlocked the cabinet doors. He distributed the digivices to their correct owners and led the group to one of the computers. "Takumi point your digivice at the screen and say 'digi-port open' it will open the gate to the digital world."

"Okay." Takumi said. He held the orange and white device in front of the computer screen and yelled, "Digi-port open!"

The young DigiDestined and their parents landed in the Digital World. Izzy explained that they were in Primary Village where their digimon were waiting for them. The parents watched as their kids were ambushed by a group of eager in-training digimon. The joyous moment was cut short by a nearby blast. Rising into the sky and headed their way was a giant red insectoid digimon.

"Kuwagamon." Tai said looking around for his digimon partner only to remember that he hadn't met up with him yet.

"No Tai that's Kuwagamon X." Izzy said.

"What difference does it make if it has the X in its name its still a giant bug headed our way." Kai said moving to stand in front of her younger brother.

"The X means its been affected with the X-Antibody making it stronger than a normal Kuwagamon." Tsunomon informed his new partner.

"What do we do?" Takumi asked his dad.

"We fight." Koromon said hopping in front of his partner. The other in-training digimon followed. "Hey you overgrown garden pest take this, Bubble Blow!"

"Bubbles! What good are bubbles against that thing?" Michi Kido asked no one in particular.

"Son calm down." Mimi said to him. She turned to her husband and said, "He reminds me so much of you honey."

"How can you guys be so calm at a time like this?" Yuki asked surprised that her mother hadn't started having a panic attack.

"Because we know you guys can handle this guy." Ken answered.

"Is this some kind of test?" DJ asked snapping his goggles onto the top of his head.

"No." Davis answered looking over at Izzy to make sure he was right. "Just believe in your digimon."

Getting bored with the in-training digimon Kuwagamon X decided to go for the group of overwhelmed kids. A bright white light surrounded each of the digimon and when it dimmed thirteen rookie level digimon stepped forward to defend their partners from the red beetle.

"Pepper breath."

"Blue blaster."

"Spiral twister."

The three attacks hit but didn't do much to stop Kuwagamon X's advance. A school of fish and some vines were easily knocked aside. The loud bark, burst of electricity, and blast of air didn't even phase the bug. It swatted Veemon and Armadillomon aside as if they were the bugs not him. The large pincers cut Wormmon's sticky web and Hawkmon's feather was easily dodged.

Standing off to the side out of Kuwagamon X's view Dorumon stood still and charged his attack. He released the iron ball and hit the bug succeeding in making it stumble. Forgetting the children Kuwagamon X turned around and used its scissors claw attack on the purple rookie digimon that had attacked him.

"Dash metal." Dorumon repeated hitting his enemy square in the face with a weaker iron ball.

"Guys attack it together!" Takumi yelled at the digimon.

Forgetting about Dorumon Kuwagamon X sped toward the brown haired boy that had given the order.

"Takumi!" Tai and Sora yelled both afraid that they made a mistake in letting their kids into the Digital World.

"Agumon digivolve to…Greymon."

Greymon charged at Kuwagamon X and knocked the bug aside. When it went airborne Greymon fired his Nova blast at it repeatedly. The insectoid digimon flew toward the orange dinosaur only to be swatted away by its tail and then fired at. Kuwagamon X was disintegrated and Greymon reverted back to Agumon. Just as the DigiDestined began to celebrate their first victory in the Digital World a hooded figure appeared cutting their celebration short.

"So the DigiDestined have returned to save the Digital World." The man hidden underneath the hood said.

"Who are you?" Takumi said standing in front of the group protectively.

"You will find out in due time Guardian of Courage." The hooded man said. "I've just come to see if my master should be worried about you, he shouldn't."

"He should." DJ said from behind Takumi.

"No you are as weak as you are foolish." The hooded man said. He tilted his head in the direction of Kai, Amaya, and Ryuu. "Some of you will prove to be fine additions to our armies, namely the Guardian of Friendship over there." He stepped toward Kai ignoring Gabumon's growl. "It'll be easier if you come with me now child, it'll spare your friends from getting hurt."

"No." Kai said firmly.

"Fine but you will come eventually, it has been foreseen." The hooded man whispered into her ear. Stepping back he said, "It has been a pleasure but I must report back to my master. So until we meet again DigiDestined."

With a snap of his fingers the man had vanished as quickly as he had appeared. The DigiDestined walked back to their parents who all wanted to know what the hooded man had told them. Kai didn't tell them what he had told her when he spoke into her ear choosing to keep his words to herself until she could figure out what they meant. They met their parents' digimon and headed back to the real worlds where they had a lunch paid for by Davis.

All throughout the day Kai kept hearing the hooded man's words in her head. _"Fine but you will come eventually, it has been foreseen." _

"I won't go." She muttered to herself as she stared out the car window on the drive back to their new house. "I won't."

**To be continued…**

**So what do you guys think? Good? Bad? Interesting enough to be continued? Review and tell me. (:**

**List of DigiDestined:**

**Takumi Kamiya: Age 14: Partner Agumon**

**Emiko "Emi" Kamiya: Age 12: Partner Biyomon**

**Kairi "Kai" Ishida: Age 13: Partner Gabumon**

**Raiden Ishida: Age 9: Partner Dorumon **

**Akira Izumi: Age 15: Partner Tentomon**

**Miku Kido: Age 14: Partner Palmon**

**Michi Kido: Age 14: Partner Goamamon**

**Nikko Takeshi: Age 15: Partner Patamon**

**Amaya Takeshi: Age 13: Partner Gatomon**

**Danjuro "DJ" Motomiya: Age 13: Partner Veemon**

**Yuki Ichijouji: Age 15: Partner Hawkmon**

**Ryuu Ichijouji: Age: 13: Partner Wormmon**

**Hana Hida: Age 15: Partner Armadillomon**


	2. Hearts of Champions

**So here's chapter two I hope you guys enjoy. Oh and in the last chapter there were some typos that I'd like to clear up. Goamamon is really supposed to be Gomamon sorry that was my bad, I may have a bit of dyslexia so bare with me.**

**I don't own digimon. ):**

**Chapter Two: Hearts of Champions**

Izzy purposely dropped his book onto the floor successfully waking up the children that had fallen asleep during his tutorial of the digivice. DJ smiled sheepishly at him and put on an attentive face. Izzy shook his head and resumed teaching them the functions of the digivice he now called the D-Power.

"And there you have it a brief introduction to the functions of the D-Power." Izzy said shutting down the projector and flipping on the lights.

"That was brief, we've been here for hours." DJ said stretching his arms above his head. "You clearly need to rethink your definition of the word 'brief' Uncle Izzy."

"Everything I told you is important and it would do you good to remember it all." Izzy said to the whole group not just the Motomiya boy.

"Don't get all worked up Uncle Izzy its just DJ and we all know he has a soccer ball for a brain." Yuki said getting a laugh from the whole group and a disgruntled groan from DJ.

"Alright now that you've had your fun its time that…" Izzy was cut off by the loud wailing sound of an alarm. A woman with long black hair and green eyes ran into the conference room. Izzy put a gentle hand on his wife's shoulder and waited for her to catch her breath before asking, "Ruka what's happening?"

"There's trouble in the Digital World." Ruka answered leading the way out of the conference room.

Silently the children followed the two adults down the hall and into the main computer room. Ruka led them to one of the larger computer screens and hissed at someone to turn of the alarm. When it was quiet she brought up a visual of the Digital World. A trio of digimon was gathered around the entrance of what looked to be a temple; they were fighting a large group of vicious looking dinosaur like digimon.

"Oh no." Izzy said quickly bringing up the Digi-port. "Takumi open the gate."

"What's so important about that location?" Nikko asked before Takumi called out the words that would send them to the Digital World.

"Its where Gennai hid the map to your tags and crests." Izzy said as if the children understood the importance of his words. "The crests are tools that will enable your digimon to reach ultimate level and that map is the only way we'll be able to find them."

"Excuse me but if you knew of the map's location all this time why didn't you get it before now?" Kai asked making a valid point.

"Because only one of you can pick up the map. There is a strong possibility that this could be a trap so be careful and don't let them get the map." Izzy answered stepping aside. "Takumi if you will."

"Digi-port open!"

* * *

"Where do we go from here Takumi?" Emi asked her older brother as she looked around at the forest they had landed in.

"I don't know." Takumi replied.

"Hey didn't Izzy say that the D-Power has a map function?" Michi asked holding out his grey D-Power. He fiddled with the buttons trying to remember what Izzy had said about accessing the map function. Finally after several attempts he was able to bring up a holographic image of the area they were in. "Alright so we're here and that over there at the base of the mountain is the temple. Its not that far of a walk, you know if you like walking three miles through the forest while there are evil digimon running around."

"Come on guys we better hurry." Takumi said leading the way toward the temple.

It was no easy task, with all the complaining and thick vegetation in their way, but the DigiDestined made it to the temple. Looking at all of the dinosaur like digimon in guarding the temple entrance Takumi wondered how in the world were they going to get inside. He looked at their digimon and then back at the vicious army of dinosaurs, there was no way they could defeat them when only Agumon could digivolve to champion.

"First thing's first, what are those digimon out there?" Takumi asked Akira.

Taking out her D-Power the red-haired girl easily accessed the Digimon Analyzer function. Reading off of the holographic image she said, "The blue one is called Allomon X, a champion level digimon. It's an Allomon who has been affected by the X-Antibody. The X-Antibody drew out unknown powers, morphed its digi-core and increased its leg strength and speed. Its three attacks are Dino Burst, Dino Flash, and Dynamite Head."

"The black ones with the horns coming our of their heads are called Monochromon X. They're also a champion level digimon with two attacks Volcanic Strike, where they shoot fire balls from their mouths, and Slamming Attack, where they crush their opponents with their horn." Yuki said. She clipped her D-Power back onto her pants and counted the number of Monochromon X in front of them. "Guys we're so screwed."

"No we can do this." DJ said snapping his goggles onto his head.

"How?" Amaya asked the Motomiya boy.

"I have an idea." Takumi said looking up from the hologram coming out of his D-Power. "It's the radar function, it shows us where all of the enemy digimon are located. As you can see they're surrounding the temple." He brought up the map of the area and swiped his finger across it so that they were staring at the back of the temple. "There's another entrance here."

"So what's the plan Taki?" Miku asked looking at the brown haired boy expectantly.

Ignoring his ridiculous childhood nickname Takumi said, "Agumon and I will attack hopefully that will draw all of the digimon to us."

"If not, what do we do then?" Kai asked giving Takumi a challenging stare.

"Have faith Goldilocks." Takumi said smiling at the blond-haired girl he used to play with as a child before she moved away. She rolled her sky blue eyes and turned to her brother. Takumi watched the Ishida siblings converse for a minute before saying, "Lets do this?"

"Hey Taki," DJ said. Takumi turned to the younger boy he considered his best friend. To his surprise DJ took off his goggles and handed them to him. Takumi stared at his friend as if he'd lost his mind, DJ never went anywhere without the goggles his father passed down to him. "Dad says that the leader of the DigiDestined isn't right without a pair of goggles, so take them."

Shaking his head Takumi said, "DJ they belonged to your dad, I can't—"

"They belonged to your dad first." DJ said.

"You sure?" Takumi said. At DJ's nod the older boy took the pair of goggles from the younger boy's hands. In a DJ-like fashion he snapped the goggles onto his head.

"You look just like Uncle Tai does in those pictures mom has." Amaya squealed taking a picture of him with her camera. "Wait 'till he sees this."

"Alright lets get the map." Takumi said looking down at Agumon before looking up at his friends. "You guys head to the back we'll take care of these guys."

"I'm staying here with you." Akira said firmly.

"Me too." Emi said.

"No." Takumi said.

"Someone has to make sure you don't die." Akira said daring Takumi to challenge her.

"Fine but Emi you have to go with them." He said to his sister.

"I'm staying with you." Emi said stubbornly. "You can't make me go Taki."

What was with everybody and calling him 'Taki' again? He looked at Emi and in that moment she reminded him of himself, stubborn and determined to get her way. Dragging a hand through his hair he said, "Fine."

The three of them watched as the rest of the group walked away. Agumon digivolved to Greymon and fired a Nova Blast at the foot of the nearest Allomon X. Luke watched as a group of Allomon X and Monochromon X started toward their direction. Greymon charged at them successfully gaining the attention of every digimon in the immediate vicinity. Akira tugged at his sleeve, he looked at the red-haired girl and she pointed toward the temple. The three digimon they had seen on the computer screen were chained to the walls. Takumi looked at the fight Greymon was locked in, his partner was holding his own against the X-Antibody digimon who were only paying attention to him.

"Here's what we're going to do, we're going to free them." Takumi said hoping that they wouldn't get squashed like bugs when they ran out there. "On my word we're going to book it across the clearing, run like your life depends on it." Emi and Akira nodded. Though he was scared as hell that they wouldn't make it he put on a brave face for his two friends, shook his fears away, and got into a running stance. "Ready go!"

* * *

Yuudai had to admire the DigiDestined, they knew they were outmatched but still they carried on. He'd let them think that only the Monochromon X and Allomon X were their only worries, after all he needed them to get to the map. With the map in his possession he'd hunt down the thirteen crests and use their light to free The Master from the Dark World. The power of the crests would be used up and the DigiDestined wouldn't stand a chance against The Master, the world would be his.

"You have to get the map first Yuudai." A scratchy voice hissed in his ear.

"Don't worry I have a plan." Yuudai said to the voice. "I won't let you down Lord Daemon."

"There will be severe consequences if you do Yuudai."

"I know." Yuudai said. Pulling his hood over his head the teenage boy shivered at the thought of those consequences. He wouldn't fail his sister's life was at stake.

* * *

"Spiral Twister."

To their surprise the attack broke the lock on the chain. Leomon pulled the chains off of him and used his sword to cut the chains off of Andromon and Ogremon. The three digimon expressed their gratitude toward the DigiDestined and ran off to join Greymon and Kabuterimon in their fight. A stray Monochromon X noticed the three kids and charged toward them. Takumi pulled his sister and Akira behind him and swallowed, Greymon and the others had their hands full. No one would be saving them. Just as he was coming to terms with the fact that he might die a bright white light erupted from behind him.

"Biyomon digivolve to…Birdramon."

"Volcanic Strike!"

"Meteor Wing!"

The two attacks collided, the force in which they hit sent both digimon a couple feet back. Birdramon recovered faster then the Monochromon X and drove it away from the kids. Takumi let out a sigh of relief; they might make it after all.

* * *

Yuki, Ryuu, Hana, and the Kido twins assured them that they had everything under control. Their newly digivolved digimon seemed to be faring well against their enemies and when Aquilamon and Stingmon took down an Allomon X DJ followed Nikko into the temple. Once inside the door sealed shut.

"There's no going back." Nikko said taking the lead.

"How are we going to get out of here?" Amaya asked.

"We find the map and get to the entrance." Salamon answered.

"Lets just hope that we left all of the prehistoric digimon out there." DJ said wishing that they had brought a flashlight. "Does the D-Power have a light function because that would come in handy right now?"

"If you didn't spend half of Izzy's tutorial sleeping and drooling all over the table you would know that it does have a light function." Amaya laughed. She took out her D-Power and hit the correct button sequence; a white light shone from the screen.

"Maybe Mr. Izumi should just make DJ a manual." Raiden said.

Amaya laughed at the suggestion. "DJ doesn't read."

"He reads, I saw him read the back of the cereal box this morning." Veemon said making everybody laugh. "What's so funny?"

"I don't think that helped his cause Veemon." Gabumon said.

"I read, just not often." DJ huffed.

Stopping suddenly Kai asked, "Did you hear that?" The others four shook their heads and looked at the blonde like she'd lost her mind. She ignored their worried stares and listened carefully. She heard it again the soft pitter-patter of footsteps. "Footsteps, we're not alone in here."

"I'll go ahead and check it out." Patamon said.

"We should probably turn off the lights." Raiden said. At the arched brows of the older kids he added, "They'll lead them right to us, if we hide in the dark then we still have the element of surprise."

"Kid's right." DJ said ruffling Raiden's hair.

They turned off their lights and pressed themselves against the wall. When Patamon returned he informed them that a digimon named Strikedramon was guarding an ornate looking door. The deduced that the door the digimon was guarding was the door that led to the map. Nikko and Amaya decided that they'd take care of Strikedramon somehow while DJ, Kai, and Raiden would get to the map.

Stepping out into the light Nikko yelled, "Hey Ugly!" The digimon turned around and started toward the blond-haired boy. Well he had wanted its attention and now he had it. Using the athleticism he'd gained from playing years of basketball Nikko ran down a hallway. Amaya followed her brother leaving the others with the task of securing the map.

The man in the hood stepped out of the shadows and grabbed Raiden. "Kai help me!" Raiden screamed.

Kai and DJ stepped forward. With a snap of his fingers the hooded man summoned up a bunch of Gazimon X. The rabbit like digimon held back the digidestined and their digimon. "You'll give me the map if you want the little brat back unharmed." The hooded man said disappearing again; the Gazimon X disappeared with him.

Without waiting for DJ to compose himself Kai shoved the ornate door open. Her blue eyes found the chest in the center of the large room.

"What are you doing?" DJ asked when he caught up to her.

"Getting the map so I can get my brother back!" She yelled frantically searching for a way to open the stupid chest. Raiden was all she had and it was her job to protect him, if anything happened to him she would never forgive herself. "He's just a kid, he shouldn't be doing this."

"Kai we're all kids." DJ said taking hold of her hands to stop her frantic movements. She ripped her hands out of his grip and glared at him. He pointed to the indentation on the chest shaped like their D-Powers. "You're missing the obvious."

She pressed the front of her D-Power to the indentation, the markings on the chest began to glow a vibrant blue color. They heard the clicking sound of a lock and when the light died the lid flew open. Sitting at the bottom of the chest was a blue card.

"That's the map?" DJ asked watching Kai pick it up.

She looked from the card to her D-Power. "DJ I know what we're supposed to do with this."

* * *

Takumi watched as their champion level digimon fought, they were all trying to get to the hooded man. He heard the blast first and then saw the angel and cat-like digimon coming out of the temple. His cousins staggered through the rubble and a wave of relief swept through Takumi, they were okay. Slowly he realized that DJ and Kai weren't with them, they were the ones getting the map which meant that they were going to loose the map to the hooded man. Kai was going to give it to him to get Raiden back.

"Howling Blaster!"

"Vee-Laser!"

The two new digimon drew everybody's attention toward them. Kai and DJ ran out of the temple and the hooded man left his perch atop of it, Raiden in hand. He appeared in front of Kai and DJ.

"Give me the map." He told Kai.

"Let Raiden go." Kai said firmly.

"First the map then your brother."

To Takumi's horror Kai handed over what he presumed to be the map. True to his word the hooded man let Raiden go. All of the X-Antibody digimon disappeared with the hooded man. The group rushed toward Kai and DJ all yelling about how they'd just given away something important.

"How could you do that?" Takumi said.

"Chill Taki we'll explain when we get back to Izzy's." DJ said.

* * *

Back at Izzy's Takumi stared dumbstruck at the map in front of them. He didn't understand how they'd gotten the map if he saw Kai give something to the hooded man. Izzy downloaded the map to each of their D-Powers and congratulated them on getting it.

"But how?" Takumi asked.

"The map was a card and once we slid it through the reader it downloaded the map to our D-Power." Kai answered. "I gave the man the card but I don't know if he'll be able to access it without a D-Power."

"He won't." Izzy said looking at the map on the big screen. "Tomorrow we'll get started looking for the crests but for now go home and get some rest you guys had a tough day."

**To be continued…**

**Please review. It'll make me happy and give you guys another chapter.**


	3. Friendship Frozen in Ice

**Hey there guys so this chapter is a bit on the long side and it took me forever to write. So I hope you guys enjoy it and thank you to the people who read and reviewed.**

**I don't own digimon...major sadness **

**Chapter Three: Friendship Frozen in Ice**

Matt didn't know why he kept the picture in his wallet, maybe because it conveyed the idea of a happy family. Sighing deeply he took out a couple of bills and tucked his wallet into the back pocket of his pants. He handed the cashier his money and took his receipt from her. At the sound of two familiar voices he finally realized what restaurant his aimless driving had brought him to, Davis' Noodle Shack.

"Don't worry Jun I've got it covered, Kaede's going to have the best birthday party ever." Matt heard Davis say. He was glad that Davis and Jun seemed to be on better terms then they had been when they were younger. "Arisu has already started buying decorations."

"Thank heavens for your wife." Jun sighed. As the two of them started toward the door they seemed to notice Matt. It shocked him to no end when Jun squealed at the sight of him. "Ohmigosh Matt!" She rounded on her brother who was looking at Matt with an apologetic smile. "Why didn't you tell me that he moved back to town?"

"So we could avoid this." Davis said waving his hand around to indicate their current situation. "Sorry about this Matt."

"Its okay." Matt said dragging a hand through his hair nervously. Looking around at the bustling restaurant he decided that it was best to say something about Davis' obvious success. "Glad to see that your dream came true, I can't wait to try your noodles I've been hearing a lot about them at work."

"Thanks." Davis said with a sheepish smile.

"Matt do you still sing?" Jun asked seeming to snap out of the trance she had been in.

While music was still a big part of his life he gave up singing the day Kotone left him. Singing reminded him too much of her, of the blissful moments of his life—of their life together. Sitting in a box in the back of his closet were the songs they'd written together, the song he sang to her on their wedding day, and all of the lullabies they wrote for Kai.

"Only to Kai." Matt answered shifting awkwardly from one foot to another.

The Motomiya siblings nodded. "Don't worry about the party Ari and I have it covered." Davis said as he ushered his sister out of the restaurant no doubt to keep the atmosphere from getting anymore awkward than it already was. "Tell Kaede her Uncle Davis loves her so much."

"Is she married?" Matt asked simply out of curiosity.

"No, her boyfriend left her after finding out she was pregnant. He wasn't the family type." Davis said clenching his hands in to fists. "I have to go make sure Veemon and DemiVeemon haven't destroyed the kitchen but I hope you enjoy your meal and I'll see you later at Izzy's."

Matt nodded making a mental note to call Izzy and tell him that there was a good chance that they'd be a little late. As he sat waiting for his noodles he couldn't help but think about the photo, the times when life was simple and he didn't have to take his daughter to the psychiatrist once a week. He shook the image of his daughter bleeding on the bathroom floor barely alive from his head and replaced it with the image of her smiling up at him as he tickled the ivory keys of the piano.

* * *

Kai sucked in a deep breath before following Amaya into the lunchroom. After a week of her cousin's begging and pleading Kai finally gave in and agreed to join her and the rest of the school in the lunchroom. She had to remember that the kids here weren't the ones that chipped away at her and made her feel like nothing. They weren't the friends who turned on her and broke everything she was.

"You're looking a little pale Kai." DJ said when they sat down at the table.

"Are you okay?" Ryuu asked softly.

"I'm fine." She said nervously tugging the sleeves of her plaid shirt down.

She wasn't but how could she explain to her teammates why she wasn't without having them think she was crazy. The last thing she wanted was for them to think she belonged in the mental ward. Had she grown up with them she might have been comfortable enough telling them why she couldn't stand being in the lunchroom but she had moved away and they'd forgotten about her. They were strangers to her, not friends. Their toleration of her was strictly due to the fact that they needed her to save the Digital World, it was because of this reason that she wouldn't allow herself to get close to them. They'd use her then leave her, like the others.

"Earth to Kai." DJ said snapping her out of her rather depressing thoughts. She looked up at the dark haired boy. "How are you liking it here?"

"Its big." She answered quietly. "My old school only had two hundred students for first through eighth grade."

"What?" DJ exclaimed.

"Yeah we lived in a small country town." Kai said unwrapping the sandwich she had packed for lunch. Staring intently at the brown crust she said, "The same kids were in my class since the first grade and we didn't switch classes. Its really different here."

"Do you miss your friends?" Ryuu asked.

"No." Kai answered fighting the urge to scratch the scars on her wrists.

"Well Taki's glad you're back." Amaya said.

Kai doubted that since Takumi had barely spoken to her. She found it funny that the group was still using the nickname she'd given Takumi when they were younger and she couldn't say his name. Oh how she yearned for the days when all she and Takumi would do was lay on the grass and try to see things in the clouds or kick the soccer ball around his backyard with his dad or sit quietly beside each other listening to her dad strum the acoustic. Those were the days when everything was perfect, her mother loved them, she wasn't depressed, and she had friends.

* * *

Friendship, there was no doubt in her mind that the symbol flashing on the screen meant friendship. Her dad had told her that much when she saw the very same symbol tattooed on his wrist. Looking at the screen of her D-Power, at the flashing symbol, a waved of disbelief crashed over her. How could her strongest trait be friendship when she had no idea what it meant, when she didn't believe that it existed?

"What's up?" Her dad asked drawing her attention away from the symbol on the screen. "You haven't said much since Izzy told everybody what their crests are."

"It has to be a mistake." She said quietly. "I can't be the one to bare the crest of friendship."

"Kai, you were scanned and they took the strongest of your traits to make your crest. It isn't a mistake." Her dad said wrapping an arm around her shoulder. "Friendship does exist Kai, I can assure you of that."

"Not for me it doesn't." Kai said looking down at her wrists.

Kai could tell that her dad wasn't about to drop their conversation. He wanted her to believe that there were such things as friends. She couldn't believe that because all the people she had called friends stabbed her in the back, it was their fault she had the scars on her wrists and had to attend weekly therapy sessions. "Kai not all people are like the ones who hurt you. Eventually you will see that and when you do you'll see that the crest of friendship was really meant for you."

He straightened the grey knit hat on her head before giving her a reassuring squeeze. Over the past couple of month she'd come to see that he believed in her more than she believed in herself. While she didn't want to disappoint him she couldn't help but feel like ultimately she would. Looking down at Gabumon she knew that she'd disappoint him too, with her not believing in friendship he wouldn't reach ultimate level.

"We're almost there." Takumi called out to them. "Good thing too because I'm ready to get out of this frozen wasteland."

"The others were lucky in their locations." DJ said blowing into his glove covered hands. "At least Izzy gave us a heads up about where we were going."

"Yeah and that he was able to set these as our outfits for when we're in this area of the Digiworld." Davis said tugging his beanie down lower.

"When we get back I'll ask Sora to make us all a pot of hot chocolate." Tai said as he led the small group forward. "Yeah and then I'm taking a hot bath after which I'll steal all the blankets in the house and snuggle underneath them."

Kai's smile was directed at the ground but was caused by the words her Uncle Tai had spoken. Vaguely did it register that even after eight years of being away from him, Tai was still 'Uncle Tai' to her. She liked that after all this time he could still bring a smile to her face.

Looking up at her dad she said, "I think Uncle Tai has the right idea, with the blankets. Lets gather up all of the blankets in the house and camp out in the living room like we used to."

She could tell by her father's rapid blinking that he was either not believing his ears or about to lie to her. She knew it was the former. "Okay that'll be fun, I'm sure Raiden would like it."

She knew Raiden would be enthused by their plans for the evening especially since he had to stay back with Akira and Izzy while they went out and searched for the crests of friendship, sincerity, and hope. For some reason the map had only shown them the location of three of the crests, Izzy had deduced that it was a security measure put in place just incase the map fell into the wrong hands. The group had split up into smaller groups with Akira, Emi, Ryuu, and Raiden staying behind. Raiden didn't like the idea of being left behind but with Akira's promise to show him cool computer games he stayed in the real world.

* * *

"Quit complaining about the cold DJ at least you get to wear warm clothes. In case you haven't noticed I'm naked!" Veemon yelled at his partner. "What I wouldn't give for some fur."

"Sorry about that Veemon." DJ said to his partner who was shivering from the cold. DJ took off his beanie and extended it out to Veemon who looked at it with a confused expression on his face. "Take it you need it more than I do."

"We've got company." Takumi said looking up from his D-Power. "Ten or so enemies closing in on our location fast."

"Leave this to us you three get to the crest." Tai said to the kids. To their digimon partners he said, "Its time to digivolve."

"Agumon digivolve to Greymon."

"Gabumon digivolve to Garurumon."

"Davis!" Veemon yelled.

"Right, digi-armor energize!"

"Veemon armor digivolve to Flamedramon, the Fire of Courage."

"Come on guys." Takumi said not really wanting to leave their dads behind but knowing that they had everything covered. Noticing the look of hesitation on Kai and DJ's faces he added, "They're going to be okay we have to get the crest."

Nodding DJ and Kai followed their leader in the direction of the crest's location. They ran into the forest following the map carefully. Takumi tried not to think about how those X-Antibody digimon knew where they would be. He hoped that it was a coincidence that they were there and that the hooded man hadn't figured out a way to read the map. It was a good thing that the crest could only be lifted by the person it was meant for otherwise they'd be in quite the predicament if the hooded man indeed got the map working for him.

"There's the cave!" DJ yelled as they neared the spot indicated on the map.

"Subzero Ice Punch." A row of Frigimon X yelled.

"Duck." Takumi yelled bringing Kai down with him. He turned his head and found his partner. "Agumon digivolve."

"You too Veemon." DJ said.

"Gabumon, you too." Kai said looking at her partner.

"Agumon digivolve to Greymon."

"Veemon digivolve to ExVeemon."

"Gabumon digivolve to Garurumon."

Turning to face her Takumi told Kai, "We'll handle these overgrown snowmen, you and Garurumon get to the cave and find your crest."

"Okay." Kai said shoving Takumi's arm off of her shoulders and getting to her feet.

Hesitantly she climbed on top of Garurumon's back. "Hold on tight." Garurumon growled as he started toward the line of Frigimon X. Using his powerful hind legs the wolf like digimon jumped over the line and dashed toward the cave. "You okay?"

"A little queasy but I'll live." Kai said.

Carefully Garurumon sped through the cave taking the turns Kai told him to. As they neared the end of the cave Kai noticed that the unnatural blue hue of the cave wasn't present anymore instead the cave was a mix of black and grey. Looking down Kai saw a thick blanket of black mist covering the cave floor. Shudders wrecked through her body at the sound of hard menacing laughter, the source of which she couldn't find. She felt Garurumon shudder and slow to a crawl, the thick blanket of mist was slowing him down.

"Do you smell that?" Garurumon asked.

She inhaled and the scent of both salt and iron blood immediately filled her nostrils. "This is so strange, it's like we've entered a parallel universe where—" She stopped mid-sentence at the sound of groans and moans. "What was that?"

"I don't know but it can't be good." Garurumon said trying to pick up the pace but unable to do so in fact he stopped moving all together. "I can't move Kai, something has a hold of my foot."

Looking down Kai saw that the black mist had risen to the height of where her feet dangled. Her eyes widened to the size of saucers as a very solid hand reached out from the blanket of mist and clamped around her foot. She automatically tried to pull her foot out of its grasp but it held on firmly. Focusing on the sea of black mist, she tried to see past the darkness to find the owner of the hand. She could barely make out a shape of the creatures, they were humanoid in figure, though with longer legs and arms, sprawled across the cave floor, holding hers and Garurumon's feet tightly with no intention of letting go.

"What are those things?" She asked still trying to pull her foot free. The hand grasping her foot tugged and she almost slid off of Garurumon. The groaning and moaning got louder, more of the creatures were staggering and crawling into the cave. "I think we're in the middle of a real life zombie infestation. Garurumon attack!" She shrieked as the hand holding her foot managed to pull her off of her partner and down on to the cave floor.

"Howling Blaster!"

* * *

"Do you think they're in trouble?" DJ asked Takumi as they waited for Kai to come out of the cave. "It's been too long."

"You're right but we can't leave here, the Frigimon X would just follow and then we'd all be trapped in a cave with them and whatever it is that's attacking Kai." Takumi said looking at the cave wondering if Kai and Garurumon were okay. He looked over to where Greymon and ExVeemon were fighting off the Frigimon X. Far off in the distance he could see something headed their way. "DJ please tell me you see that too."

Gulping DJ said, "I see it but what is it?" Squinting DJ tried to make out what the figure was but saw that it wasn't alone. "Ah now there's two of them."

"The first one is IceLeomon X and the one that just zoomed past him is called Cyberdramon, they're both ultimate level digimon." Takumi said looking up from his D-Power to his frightened friend.

"We're toast." DJ said looking at their tiring partners. "They're only champion level and already tired from fighting off the Frigimon."

"Greymon, ExVeemon look out!" Takumi yelled.

"Frozen Fury!"

"Nova Blast!"

The two attacks met creating a blanket of steam over the battlefield. Takumi couldn't see Greymon or ExVeemon but he could hear their grunts. DJ tugged on his jacket drawing his attention away from the battle he couldn't see. To his horror Cyberdramon was leaving IceLeomon X to handle them and going straight for the cave.

"If they weren't in trouble before they are now." Takumi said trying to figure out a way to warn Kai about their new friend. Then it hit him; the D-Powers had a communication function. Pushing the correct button combination he was able to bring up the communication screen, he scrolled down to Kai's name and hit the button. "Kai? Please tell me you can hear me." All he heard was static, groaning, growling, more static, and a shriek. "Kai, what's going on? Answer me dammit!"

"She's in trouble." DJ said taking the D-Power from Takumi's hands. "Kai listen a digimon called Cyberdramon entered the cave, he's an ultimate level digimon so watch your backs." With that the communication link was severed. "What do you think they're fighting in there?"

"I don't know but we can't help." Takumi growled punching the ground.

The steam cleared in time for them to see IceLeomon X whack ExVeemon in the gut with its staff and send another of its Frozen Fury attacks at Greymon. Both champions hit the side of the cave and were ganged up on by the Frigimon. ExVeemon kicked some away and Greymon managed to swipe some away with his tail.

"This is the end, any last words." IceLeomon X growled at the two fallen champions.

"How about this, don't mess with our kids!" Davis yelled. "Flamedramon!"

"Fire Rocket!"

"Terra Force!"

"Metal Wolf Claw!"

"They're megas he stands no chance." DJ said looking at his D-Power. "WarGreymon is the final form of Agumon and MetalGarurumon is the same for Gabumon."

"Where's Kai?" Matt asked when the three adults reached the two boys.

"In the cave but—" Takumi answered looking over at the cave and thinking about what they heard over the D-Power. "Something's happened. When we called her over the D-Power there was a lot of static, some groaning and moaning, and she was screaming. Cyberdramon also went into the cave."

"Matt take MetalGarurumon and go help Kai, we got this guy." Tai said pushing his friend forward, not that Matt had plans of staying put while his daughter was in trouble.

* * *

Kai stared at the D-Power in disbelief; it had just fired a beam of white light at one of the 'zombies.' Not giving it a second thought she aimed the D-Power at the zombie gripping Garurumon's leg. The 'zombie' howled with pain before withering away. Before she could react another one grabbed her foot and started dragging her across the floor. Using what little strength she had left she kicked at the creature with her free foot, she gasped when her foot went right through the creature. Getting it together she aimed her D-Power at it and watched as it and several others withered away.

Quickly she ran back to Garurumon and freed the rest of his legs. Without hesitation she pulled herself onto his back. "Go now before we're zombie chow!"

He started forward but a hoard of creatures was blocking their exit. "Howling Blaster!" The creatures disintegrated into a wisp of black smoke.

The sound of waves crashing against the shore echoed loudly through the cave as they ran forward.

"I think we just survived the first round of the Zombie Apocalypse." Kai said noticing that the color was back. "Hey we just reentered the world of color." Looking back she saw that there wasn't any sign of their battle against the 'zombies.' "Garurumon is it possible that we entered a different world back there?"

"Yes as to which world I'm not quite sure." Garurumon said.

"Well it has to be one with an ocean or was I just imagining the sound of waves?" Kai asked.

"No I heard them too." Garurumon said.

"Desolation Claw!"

Kai was thrown off of Garurumon's back and after making sure nothing was broken she inched toward Garurumon. "Get to the crest I'll handle him."

"Are you sure?" Kai asked hesitant to leave her already weakened partner alone.

"Go!"

Kai ran the few feet that were left to the crest. She found herself outside in a circular clearing. Directly in front of her was a pool of crystal blue water and at the base of the mountain wall was a circular inlet with a small iceberg protruding from the ground. Carved into the mountain was the symbol that her dad had tattooed on his wrist and that was flashing on the screen of her D-Power. She started forward but someone grabbed her and pulled her against them.

"I didn't think you'd get out of the Dark World." The man whispered into her ear sending shivers down her spine. "I was hoping the Shadows would have done away with you but I suppose it's a good thing they didn't because only you can melt the ice around the crest."

"Let go of me!" She screamed trying to squirm out of the man's hold. He only tightened his grip around her hands and pushed her forward. "How did you even get here the map won't work without—"

"Without a D-Power, well here's a newsflash for you Blondie I have a D-Power and a crest of my own too." He said in a low gravely voice.

"That means you're DigiDestined." Kai said still trying to break out of his grasp. "Who the hell are you?"

"My name is Yuudai." He answered pushing her into the pool of water. "Now be a good girl and get me the crest, if you do that Cyberdramon will make your partner's end swift and painless."

"Why do you want the crest if you have your own?" Kai asked standing up and hoping that she wouldn't get sick.

"The thirteen gates keep the Master imprisoned in the Dark World. The Guardians of the gates hold the thirteen keys, otherwise known as the crests. Now get me the crest of friendship if you want your pathetic excuse for a digimon to meet his end without pain. There's no way he can win against Cyberdramon, he's an ultimate level digimon."

"Metal Wolf Claw!" Cyberdramon flew into the clearing and hit the mountain wall beside the pool.

Kai and Yuudai looked toward the entrance of the clearing. Gabumon and her dad followed his digimon partner in. Her dad spoke to Yuudai, "Meet MetalGarurumon, a mega level digimon."

"Your digimon didn't stand a chance against him." Kai said pointing to the spot where Cyberdramon had fallen, in place of the ultimate level digimon was its in-training form. "He went all the way back to in-training level."

"I will get the crest but for now enjoy your victory." With that said he and his in-training partner disappeared from the clearing.

Kai pulled herself out of the pool and walked over to the iceberg. Looking at it carefully she could see the tag and crest frozen inside. Getting it out of the ice was going to be the problem; Izzy forgot to tell them to bring an icepick. Her D-Power vibrated and after pulling it out of her coat pocket a blue light erupted from the screen and iceberg. When the light faded away the iceberg was gone and lying on the snow-covered ground was her crest, a digi-egg shaped like a flip-flop with a nail going through it, and six white cards. She picked up the crest and cards but just stared at the digi-egg. When she touched the digi-egg it disappeared into her D-Power.

"That's strange." Her dad said. "When we found the digi-egg of friendship I couldn't lift it despite the fact that I had the crest of friendship. The digi-egg belonged to Davis."

"We'll ask Izzy about it." MetalGarurumon said as they rode back through the cave.

* * *

The DigiDestined sat around the table in the conference room waiting for Izzy to congratulate them on getting the three crests and explain the digi-egg mystery. When his computer program was up and running he smiled at them all.

"Well I would call today a success, we got the three crests on the map with little to no injury, congratulations everyone. As for the digi-eggs, please direct your attention to the screen." The screen showed a video of Davis, Cody, Yolei, TK, and Kari activating their digi-eggs. "In the past there was only one copy of each digi-egg and only those who carried it could use it but during an accident in which the D-Terminals got mixed up we saw that Veemon, Hawkmon, Armadillomon, Gatomon, Patamon, and Wormmon could use any one of the digi-eggs to armor digivolve."

"So if they have to carry them why do I have the digi-egg of friendship and what's up with the cards?" Kai asked looking down at her D-Power.

"I was getting to that." Izzy said dragging his hand down his face in an exasperated manner. "The one who bares the crest that corresponds with the digi-egg keeps the egg and those whose digimon can armor digivolve get the cards. Kai, DJ come here and lets demonstrate how this works." Kai and DJ got up from their seats and walked up to the front of the large room. Izzy handed DJ one of the cards Kai had found. "Alright Kai take out your D-Power and say 'digi-egg transfer' while pointing it at the card. DJ when a picture of the digi-egg appears on the card swipe it through your D-Power and say 'digi-armor energize.' Go ahead."

The two kids did as instructed and before they knew it Raidramon was standing in the room. When he de-digivolved the card went back to being blank. Izzy told the group that each egg got six cards, that way it could be used by all six digimon had access to the egg not just one.

"Wow that's cool Izzy." Davis said looking at the card DJ held in his hand. "I'm guessing that the symbol on the back tells you which card goes with which egg."

"That's correct." Izzy said distributing the other cards to the kids. "Now go home and get some rest, tomorrow we'll have the locations of three more crests."

* * *

Matt looked over at his two kids, who were eating s'mores with their digimon partners atop of a large pile of blankets, then back at the picture in his wallet and the one he'd chosen to replace it. He took the family portrait out and replaced it with a picture of Kai and Raiden sitting on either side of him watching as he strummed the guitar. It was a photo his mother had taken when she joined them on one of their living room campouts.

"Hey dad Gabumon, Tsunomon, and Dorimon are going to finish all of the s'mores if you don't get over here quickly." Kai said laughing at the eating habits of their digimon.

"Hey save me some, I made them." Matt said closing his wallet and making his way over to the living room. "Ah man looks like I'm too late."

"You can always make more." Raiden said.

"Nuh-uh I think you've reached your sugar limit for the day." Matt said laughing at his son's pout. "How about I play you guys a little song?"

"Okay." They all said.

For the first time since Kotone left him he played one of the lullabies they had written for Kai. After getting through the whole song without falter Matt knew that they were going to be okay as a family.

**To be continued...**

**So you found out that Davis' wife's name is Arisu and that he has a niece named Kaede. You also found out that Matt's ex-wife left him when Kai was five and Raiden was one.**

**So what did you guys think? Did you love it? Hate it? Are you excited for more? Do you want to knows what happens next and what the Dark World is exactly? Please review and you'll get the next chapter. **


	4. The Price Paid for Courage

**Hey guys so I finished this chapter and decided to post it even though you know there hasn't been any reviews. Well I hope you guys like this one it took me all day to write and thank you all for reading the story you guys are great. Oh and I decided to change the title and summary to reflect the direction the story is going (:**

**I don't own Digimon :(**

**Chapter Four: The Price Paid for Courage**

Takumi didn't know what had compelled him to invite the blond-haired girl to his soccer game. He didn't think she'd come and was surprised when DJ pointed up to the bleachers at her and Raiden sitting amongst their friends. For a moment he allowed himself to remember the time his dad decided to teach them both how to play soccer, he fell in love instantly while Kai didn't.

"Are you guys ready to kick some butt?" Ryuu said as he laced up his cleats. He shoved Takumi's shoulder gently. "Earth to Taki."

Shaking his head Takumi said, "Don't call me that." He noticed that ever since her return the group had been calling him by his childhood nickname. He looked at his two best friends and flashed them a confident grin. "Lets go win this game."

* * *

Yuudai paced the length of the hallway aggravated that the DigiDestined had beaten him to the crests. The only crest that remained was the crest of courage but the blasted map had yet to reveal its location. He dragged a hand through his unruly black hair; even if he beat the DigiDestined to the crest he couldn't lift it. There had to be a way to get the crests off of the necks of those light-inclined do-gooders. He could always tackle them to the ground and rip the crests off; he let out a hearty, slightly crazed, laugh at the thought of charging at the DigiDestined like some American football player.

The air around him chilled and filled with the despair that always accompanied Daemon. His body gave an involuntary shudder as the cold and despair seeped into his bones. He hated living in the Dark World with Daemon, he much rather be back in Odaiba, but that wasn't an option if he wanted to keep his sister safe from Lord Dragomon.

"Master." Yuudai said.

"You have yet to acquire a single crest aside from your own, need I remind you of your sister's fate." Daemon said in a low voice.

"I know what will happen if I don't get you out of here." Yuudai said clenching his hands into fists. When he and his sister stumbled into the Dark World being Daemon's servant was the better of the two options he was given. There was no way he was handing his little sister to Lord Dragomon. "I have another plan."

"Hopefully it is better than your first otherwise the Dark Ocean will have itself a new queen." Daemon said disappearing into the shadows.

Yuudai punched the wall not caring that he'd just bruised his knuckles. He had to come up with a plan to free Daemon from this black and white world. The girls Lord Dragomon took to his underwater palace were never seen again. He cursed his sister's light for being so strong, that's what attracted Lord Dragomon to her in the first place, but Yuudai knew that it wasn't as strong as Kari Takashi's, whom the Undersea Master truly wanted.

Before he could bash his head against the wall in frustration a thought occurred to him, he'd could bring Lord Dragomon the daughter of Kari and TK Takashi surely that would take the sick-minded digimon's interests off of his sister. There was still the problem that was Daemon, if he didn't free him not only would his sister be handed over to that sicko but he'd die. He needed to open the gates, he needed the crests, he needed…a DigiDestined.

"What have you come up with Yuudai?" Cyberdramon asked.

"A plan to kill two birds with one stone." Yuudai said dropping his cloak, he was tired of hiding behind it, and starting down the hall. "We're going to bring one of the DigiDestined to our side."

"How?"

"By manipulating the darkness within them." Yuudai answered pulling his crest out from underneath his black t-shirt. "After all as the Guardian of Darkness that is something I can do."

* * *

Takumi noticed the way Kai's eyes had darkened and were fixed intently on the beach across the street. Just as he figured out what to say to her his cell phone rang. With a defeated sigh he forgot about talking to Kai and focused on listening to what Izzy had to say.

"Is everybody still with you?" Izzy asked.

"For the most part everybody's here, why? What's going on? Did the map give you the location of the crest of courage?" Takumi said unable to refrain himself from asking the questions.

"Yes the map has revealed the location of your crest. It is imperative that you all get to the lab immediately. Call those who are not still with you." Izzy said. "Don't worry about you're digimon they're already here."

"Okay." Takumi said hanging up the phone. He looked to those that hadn't gone home after the game; they were all looking at him expectantly. "The last location was revealed, Izzy wants us to get to the lab now. Deej call the twins and Hana, tell them to get to the lab quickly."

Discarding their unfinished food and trash the DigiDestined scurried out of the restaurant. It was their luck that they weren't too far away from the lab, though they weren't exactly close either. Takumi suggested they run for it and everybody seemed to think that was best.

* * *

"Izzy we're here." Takumi huffed when they barreled into the conference room.

"Good now we can get started. The crest of courage is at the topmost peak of this mountain range." Izzy said pointing to the spot with his laser pointer. "It is located in a cave at the top."

"Oh joy another cave." Kai muttered. She still hadn't forgotten what happened when they went in search of her crest, the finger shaped bruises on her ankle served as a constant reminder of the 'zombie' attack.

"Yes a cave but that's not of importance, the fact that the entire mountain is being guarded by X-Antibody Digimon is. Yuudai has gotten to the crest before us and getting it back safely is going to be a challenge." Izzy said bringing up a visual of the mountain.

"Holy shit that's a lot of digimon." Takumi said aware that he had just cursed but as he looked at the image on the screen felt that it was a dignified curse. "How are we going to get through that many?"

"With teamwork and strategy." Izzy answered. He went over a carefully thought out battle plan with the kids and when they understood the plan he opened brought up the gate. "Takumi if you would."

"Digi-port open!"

* * *

Takumi connected his headset to his D-Power, what Izzy and Gennai hadn't thought of when designing the devices, and instructed the others to do the same. Akira established a communication link between them and Takumi told them to keep it open no matter what happened. They divided themselves into their pre-made groups and got into formation.

"Nikko, Akira you're in charge of your groups." The blonde and redhead nodded in understanding. "We'll meet at the rendezvous point, be careful everyone."

"'And may the odds be ever in your favor.'" DJ said as he mounted Raidramon.

"I thought you didn't read DJ." Kai said as she pulled Raiden onto Garurumon's back.

"That's in a book? I got that from that one movie that all of the girls are obsessed with." DJ said as he helped Ryuu onto Raidramon's back.

"The movie's based off a book." Ryuu said.

"Enough chit-chat, lets head out." Takumi said.

The three groups moved forward. The X-Antibody Digimon immediately attacked them. Greymon immediately blasted the ones coming at them from the front while Raidramon and Garurumon made quick work of those coming in from the left and right. Stingmon took care of the enemies above them and Reptiledramon covered their rear.

"Oh no the zombies are back Garurumon." He heard Kai say through the headset.

"I see them." Garurumon growled.

Takumi looked around at the battlefield before them to see what she meant by 'zombies,' all he saw were X-Antibody Digimon. "Kai what the hell do you mean by zombies?"

"You guys don't see them?" Kai asked sounding terrified.

"No." The four boys answered.

"Garurumon!" Kai shrieked.

Takumi looked to his right, he had to rub his eyes to make sure he was seeing things correctly. Kai, Raiden, and Garurumon were fading. "Kai, Raiden what's going on?" The only reply he got was static. He watched them vanish from the battlefield completely. "Kai, where did you go?"

"They're gone." DJ said in a disbelieving tone.

"What do we do Taki?" Ryuu asked in the same disbelieving tone DJ had used.

"We shift into diamond formation and continue up this mountain." Takumi said keeping a calm voice even though he was internally freaking out. "Akira can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear, what's up?" Akira replied instantly.

"Kai and Raiden disappeared somehow, can you patch me through to your dad?" Takumi said as he flagged down Stingmon and motioned for him to take their right side.

"What do you mean they disappeared? Did they abandon the fight?" Akira asked.

"No they just vanished." DJ said joining the chat. "Well Kai said something about zombies, that only she and Garurumon could see, then the three of them started to fade and finally they disappeared completely."

"Okay I'll establish communication with the lab but don't stray from our mission." Akira said.

Takumi tried to ignore the fact that she just said to go on even if they'd somehow just lost one of their own. He supposed that's what the military did when they lost a soldier but they weren't soldiers they were kids.

Greymon's quick and jagged dodge of an oncoming attack brought him out of his thoughts. They had a mission and he had to believe that Kai and Raiden would be okay, wherever they were, until they could help them. He relayed the story back to Izzy who like Akira said to focus on their current objective.

"Can we help them?" Ryuu asked.

"I don't think we can." Izzy answered in a solemn voice. "I can't locate their D-Powers which means they're not in the Digital or Real worlds. I have to speak with the others and when I have more information I'll contact you."

"Okay." Takumi said. He turned around and addressed the reptilian digimon taking care of enemies that attacked them from behind. "Raiden will be fine, Kai and Garurumon are with him and I know for a fact that Kai won't let anything happen to him."

Reptiledramon was evidently still worried about his partner but continued to fight nonetheless.

* * *

Nikko held on tight as Pegasusmon swerved quickly to avoid the two attacks that had been coming their way. He looked over at Amaya and noticed that she and Nefertimon had three enemies coming at them from behind.

"Pegasusmon we need to help them." Nikko said. His brown eyes widened with fear as he saw that his sister was being surrounded. Calling her up on the communication link he said, "Have Nefertimon dive and come up beside us we'll handle them together."

"Okay." Amaya said, her voice quivering.

From behind him something exploded. He looked in time to see an enemy that would have sent him to the ground spiral out of the air. In his ear he heard Michi yell with glee. He thanked the Kido boy for saving him. His attention returned to his sister and her digimon. Nefertimon dove, leveled out and flew a forward a bit before executing a sharp turn and then pulled up to where Pegasusmon hovered.

"Ready partner?" Nefertimon asked.

"Ready." Pegasusmon replied.

"Golden Noose." The two digimon yelled flying off in opposite directions, a golden chord tethering them together. Together the two digimon rounded up the enemy digimon in a golden net and let it fall to the ground below.

"Ah!" Amaya screamed.

"What is it?" Miku's voice yelled frantically into his ear.

"Sis what's going on?" Nikko asked narrowing his eyes to see what it was that caused her to scream. He saw nothing but Nefertimon fighting off an invisible enemy. "What are you fighting?"

"Can't you guys see them?" Amaya asked.

"I don't see anything but Nefertimon attacking the air." Michi said.

"They're black with large bat wings and red eyes, how can you miss them?" Amaya yelled.

"Because there's nothing there." Nikko said trying to see what his sister was seeing. "Pegasusmon lets head over there."

When he reached his sister he noticed that both her and Nefertimon had taken on a greyish tint. He heard the buzz of static in his ear but disregarded it because his sister was fading. Before he could call out to her she disappeared all together.

"Uh, where did she go?" Miku asked.

"All I get is static when I try to get her on the communication link." Michi said.

"Pegasusmon land in between Togemon and Ikkakumon, then revert back to Patamon and digivolve to Angemon." Nikko said in a hollow tone. As they dove down toward the ground he brought Takumi up the link and told him everything that just happened.

"We can't help her, she's not in this world anymore." His cousin said. "The same thing happened to Kai and Raiden."

Nikko punched the ground and let out a string of curses, two of his cousins and his sister were gone and he couldn't do anything about it.

"Nikko what do we do?" Angemon asked.

"We continue up this mountain." Nikko said grabbing his hat. "You're the only defense we have against aerial attacks so I'm going to ride on Ikkakumon so I don't slow you down."

* * *

"Kai what are those things?" Raiden asked unable to hide the tremble in his voice.

"I affectionately call them zombies but I'm not sure that's what they are." Kai said aiming her D-Power at the creature that was reaching for her ankle. The groaning got louder; more of those creatures were coming their way. "Garurumon run, we need to get out of this cave."

"I really hate caves." Garurumon growled as he sprang forward.

"You and me both buddy." Kai said holding onto Garurumon and Raiden for dear life.

"Howling Blaster!" Garurumon yelled hitting the creatures that were blocking their way, they withered away.

Picking up speed Garurumon raced through the cave. Occasionally some creatures would attack them but they were easily dealt with via a Howling Blaster or a burst of light from the D-Power. A dim light appeared at the end of the tunnel and Garurumon headed for it. The ground beneath Garurumon's paws changed from solid rock to soft sand. A light breeze blew their hair around and Kai caught the scent of salt in the air. Looking to her left she saw it, the beach complete with a lighthouse that shone black light.

"Where are we?" Raiden asked looking around at the black and grey world.

"The Dark Ocean." Garurumon answered. "I've heard whispers about this place, this world but didn't think it actually existed."

"How to return to the world of color?" Kai asked looking around for a way out of the colorless world.

"Its cold." Raiden stated.

Kai nodded wishing she wore pants or at least tights underneath her shorts. For Raiden's sake she unbuttoned her plaid shirt and draped it over his shoulders. "Stick your arms through the sleeves and button it."

"But Kai—"

"Just do it Raiden, I'll be fine." She said mentally cursing the day for having been so warm. If it hadn't been so warm out then she'd be wearing a long-sleeve t-shirt instead of the tank top she was wearing, she wouldn't be able to see the Goosebumps that dotted her arms or the scars on her wrists.

"Do you hear that?" Garurumon asked.

"What?" Kai asked. Her answer came in the form of a scream. "Someone else is here."

"Where?" Raiden asked.

"Up on the cliffs." Garurumon answered.

"Lets go help her." Kai said.

* * *

Takumi looked around at the group, they had all made it to the rendezvous point without being severely injured. There weren't any X-Antibody Digimon at the top of the mountain except for Cyberdramon who was positioned at the cave's entrance. Takumi hoped that their champion level digimon could hold their own against the ultimate level digimon.

"Are you guys ready?" Takumi asked his friends.

"Yeah lets get your crest and go home already." Miku said from her spot beside her twin.

"Alright group one go." Takumi said looking at Angemon, Togemon, Ankylomon, and Stingmon. "Group two get ready because once they engage the target in battle you're up." He looked at Ikkakumon, Aquilamon, Kabuterimon, Reptiledramon, and Birdramon.

"Taki its time to send in group two." Akira said deducing that Cyberdramon had his full attention on the champions he was already dealing with.

"Go and remember long range attacks only, close range is group one's job." Takumi said getting behind Greymon and ExVeemon. He looked at the group and then at the cave. "Are you guys ready to run for it?"

"Yeah."

* * *

Amaya watched helplessly as Nefertimon fought against the humanoid creatures coming toward them. She could tell that being in this black and white world was weakening her digimon partner. As another wave of creatures replaced the ones Nefertimon just destroyed a wolf-like creature jumped into the fray and two beams of white light zoomed past her. She watched as Garurumon clamped his strong jaw around one of the creatures and tore it apart until there was nothing left. The two creatures the beams of light hit withered away into nothing.

"Amaya!" Kai yelled as she and Raiden made their way to where she stood frozen. "Use your D-Power, the light of the D-Power kills them!"

Though she was skeptical Amaya did as her cousin said and was surprised when a white light burst from the screen of her D-Power and hit one of the creatures square in the chest. Kai and Raiden made it to her and together the three of them fought off the creatures that crawled toward them.

"Where are we?" Amaya asked.

"We're in the Dark World and this exact location is called the Dark Ocean." Kai answered keeping one eye on Raiden and the other on the zombie creatures.

"So what are those things?" Amaya asked hitting another creature with her D-Power.

"Kai calls them zombies." Raiden quipped.

"There's no such thing as zombies." Amaya said.

"Says the girl being attacked by the creepy crawling groaners." Kai said.

"Uh Kai what's that?" Raiden asked pointing to the figure that broke the surface of the Dark Ocean. "Is it a digimon?"

"I have no idea what that is." Kai said looking at the creature that was slowly getting closer to the shore. "All I know is that it's going to be the main star of my nightmares from now on."

"Shadows stop, I've found my queen. Bring the Guardian of Light to me and dispose of the Guardians of Friendship and Loyalty." An eerie voice said.

* * *

Takumi lifted the gold box from the pedestal. An orange light disappeared into his D-Power and when he looked at the screen he saw that the digi-egg of courage was no stowed inside. He opened the box, inside was his crest and the six cards for the digi-egg transfer.

"Guys we have all of the crests and digi-eggs now." Takumi said to the group.

"Yay! Now can we go home it's been a long day?" Miku said.

"Yeah lets go." Takumi said worried about leaving the Digital World without Amaya, Kai and Raiden.

"Takumi, Kai and Raiden have reappeared in the Digital World, Matt, Joe, and TK are on their way to their location right now. I'm afraid I have bad news though, Amaya's not with them and three of the Gates have been opened." Izzy said into his ear. "Get back to the lab immediately."

* * *

Kai lifted her head, which felt like it weighed a ton, and took a look around. Raiden and Gabumon lay beside her unconscious but alive and in color. She noticed the tall slightly opened white and gold doors in front of her; a thick gold chain and large padlock lay on the ground.

"Kai?" Raiden groaned as he came to. "What happened?"

"I don't know but we're back in the Digiworld." Kai answered looking her brother over to make sure he was in one piece. "You okay?"

"My head hurts and so does the rest of me." Raiden answered.

"That's pretty much how I feel." Kai said noticing their D-Powers and crests lying in a pile a few feet from the door. With every ounce she had left she crawled toward them. At the sight of the pink D-Power she remembered that Amaya had been with them in the Dark World. "Raiden where's Amaya?"

"I don't know she was with us but then those creatures attacked and everything went black and cold." Raiden said.

"Kai! Raiden!" Instinctively Kai turned in the direction of her father's voice.

He made it to Raiden first and did a more thorough examination of him. Joe and her uncle made it to her. Joe examined her while her uncle picked up Amaya's D-Power; he stared at it with tears in his eyes. Kai looked away from him afraid that he'd blame her for the fact that Amaya wasn't with them. Her eyes settled on Gabumon, he hadn't woken up and there was a needle and syringe lying next to him.

"Gabumon!" She yelled trying to get away from Joe who wasn't done with his examination of her wounds, she hadn't been aware she had been hurt until he said so. "No Joe, I'm fine! Check on Gabumon!"

By the time her dad reached her she was borderline hysterical. He pulled her onto his lap and held her against his chest. She watched as Joe examined her digimon partner. When he picked up the empty syringe his facial expression turned grave. The scars on her wrists itched with anticipation as Joe walked back toward them.

"Gabumon's been infected with the X-Antibody."

**To be continued...**

**So there you have it chapter four. I decided to only show them getting the crests of courage and friendship because well this was all I could come up with for crest hunting and well I wanted to get to the main part of the story quickly. So three of the thirteen gates have been open, the Undersea Master has Amaya, and Gabumon's been infected with the X-Antibody. What's going to happen next? Find out next chapter.**

**Until then please review.**


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